Former Ukip spin doctor Annabelle Fuller tried to take her own life last month, just hours after a row with Mr Farage’s wife, Kirsten, and following a nine year battle with clinical depression.

In a moving interview with Express.co.uk, Ms Fuller, who was for years Mr Farage’s closest aide, spoke of her mental ill health and how working in politics drove her to “rock bottom”.

She strenuously denies ever having had an affair with Mr Farage and does not blame his wife for what recently happened.

The tormented 32 year old woke up in a hospital 12 days ago, the morning after a party at which bouncers asked her to leave on the apparent orders of Mrs Farage.

She had taken an overdose and tried to cut her wrists.

“This has been the worst time in my life,” she said. “It should be the best time.”

She described feeling isolated and having lost the “support network” of party colleagues after Ukip chiefs told her in March she could no longer work in the press department.

Their decision came after an explosive European Parliament speech from former-Ukip MEP Nikki Sinclaire in which she used parliamentary privilege to name Ms Fuller as Mr Farage’s mistress.

Following the speech, Ms Fuller, who had promised herself she would “take a bullet for him”, agreed to leave the party machine.

The split meant she was robbed of the chance to share the glory of an election earthquake that she had been devoting her life towards.

Ms Fuller began working for Ukip in 2004, initially beginning in the European Parliament before moving to the party's national press office.

Recalling her first meeting with Mr Farage, she said: "I was scared because he was my boss.

"You have to earn his trust but he's never unpleasant at all."

Soon afterwards, rumours about the pair began circling around the bars of Brussels and Westminster, but Ms Fuller said she was not surprised.

"I don't look like the back of a bus,” she said. “Simple fact: if you want to get on in politics as a woman you better be ugly, you better be thick skinned or better have got married."

Despite being 18 years younger than her boss, Ms Fuller said she felt like "Nigel's mother".

She said she would often have to remind Mr Farage to drink water not just tea with his breakfast of kippers, as "he wouldn't accept tea is a diuretic".

She added: "I defended him. I always said I would take a bullet for him."

Annabelle Fuller has nothing but warm words for Nigel Farage [GETTY]

In 2008, she left the Ukip operations to do some freelance public relations work, but returned in 2010 for the general election.

She was responsible for Ukip's successful harnessing of social media outlets, and would regularly update Mr Farage's official Twitter feed on his behalf.

She had become increasingly central to the Ukip press operation, and was part of the team which guided the party to second place in last year's Eastleigh by-election, a result which for many heralded it as a serious force in UK politics.

She was invariably by Mr Farage’s side at key moments.

At the party’s annual conference last year, it was she who broke the news to Mr Farage that his close friend, Godfrey Bloom, had hit Channel 4 journalist over the head with a brochure.

With Ukip riding high the opinion polls, it seemed Ms Fuller would be at the very heart of the party which would win the European elections.

Then on March 12, Nikki Sinclaire made her famous speech.

As soon as she heard it, she knew she would have to leave the party, despite both her and Mr Farage repeatedly denying the accusation.

“I thought, ‘this is it,’ she said. “It was when people tried to link me to anything.”

However, she remained in touch with Mr Farage and said he invited her to the election celebration drinks at the InterContinental Westminster in Central London on Monday, May 26.

It was there that Kirsten Farage is said to have screamed at Ms Fuller: "I will have security drag you out by your hair if you don't leave.”

Ms Fuller told Express.co.uk: “I was escorted out in front of colleagues and friends I had known for years and I knew outside there were a load of TV cameras and journalists.“I was humiliated.

“I knew it had nothing to do with Nigel and I called him up he said, 'What the hell's going on?'

“He then comes along, he hugged me and I was in floods of tears - the floodgates opened like they had never opened.”

Ms Fuller said her former boss told her: "I'm sorry.”

However, the drama didn’t end there as Miss Fuller went to nearby pub The Feathers, only to once again be confronted by Mrs Farage.

She was again asked to leave and after at first refusing, she returned to her home in north London.

A couple of friends called her and became concerned about the way she was talking.

Both separately called an ambulance and within minutes paramedics arrived.

“I must have let them in,” she said.

“Apparently they were just about to get the police out and something in me opened the door.

"I woke up in hospital. I wondered what was in my arm and I realised it was a drip.”

Looking back, she said: “It was a desperate desire not to be unhappy anymore after a bloody awful day.

“I had been waking up every morning for the past few months dreading the phone ringing, dreading checking my emails, wondering if there was going to be someone at my door - basically living my life in a veil of complete panic.

“No relaxing, no mananas. Just everything hit all of a sudden.

“Then after the hospital, I thought this isn't ideal. The other awful thought which no one should have to put up with is this could be a story: me being ill is a story.

“One of the reasons I'm speaking now is sometimes it’s easier to lance the boil yourself.

“I'm really lucky with my GP, he has been excellent. But my support network, which was work, has been completely taken away from me.

Ms Fuller believes it is impossible to survive in the world of politics if you suffer with mental ill-health.

She plans to leave London and move to Bath to build up her bespoke millinery business.

She said: “I haven't had closure. I do not see how anyone with a serious health problem can either live in London as anything, because quite simply there just aren't the resources and work in politics when even the most healthy happy people suddenly burst into tears.”

"Unfortunately there is still a stigma surrounding mental health which might prevent people from seeking help, but not talking about issues can make things worse, so if you're worried about your mental health, talk to someone, such as your GP."

*The Samaritans provide a 24 hour help line for people who might be similarly affected. The number is 08457 909090

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